Morrow County animal shelter floods once again

Sarina Atwell, Morrow County's dog warden, got the call about 4 a.m.: Whetstone Creek had breached its banks, flooding the Morrow County Fairgrounds and swamping the local dog shelter.

Sarina Atwell, Morrow County’s dog warden, got the call about 4 a.m.: Whetstone Creek had breached its banks, flooding the Morrow County Fairgrounds and swamping the local dog shelter.

The water was rising. The dogs needed help.

Atwell, who had been up most of Monday night comforting her own dog through the thunderstorms that swept across central Ohio, raced to the shelter in Mount Gilead.

Two feet of water had flooded the building and more was coming. Atwell picked up the dogs and put them in crates on top of their kennels. Then she put out a call for help.

Mary Beth Hall, the Union County dog warden, was one of the first to answer.

When Hall arrived, the muddy and churning creek water was probably 3 feet high, about the level of the handle on the shelter’s screen door. The animals were OK. Some had a little mud on their bellies, but they seemed happy just to be safe, Hall said.

“A German shepherd named Tank, he just jumped right up in my truck and was ready for the ride,” she said. “I was glad to help. Now, the work turns to getting them all adopted and finding them permanent homes.”

There were 27 dogs in the Morrow County shelter on Monday night. By yesterday afternoon, all had been sent to new shelters or homes.

Most went to a local rescue group, and one that already had been adopted went to his new home. Eight went to Union County.

Dogs have been removed from the shelter twice already this year because of rain. The last time the shelter flooded, in February 2011, they couldn’t return until Thanksgiving. Three dogs died.

Atwell said the county desperately needs a new shelter. She estimates that one would cost about $400,000 to build. She knows the only funding she’ll get, though, is through donations: Morrow County simply doesn’t have the money to build a new dog shelter.

“We don’t need a Taj Mahal,” Atwell said. “We need an adequate facility that will hold up to 30 dogs and have office space, visitation space and a quarantine area.”